Wasteland
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
_________________________

Wasteland takes place in the future after the nuclear holocaust of World War III. The player guides band of Desert Rangers from town to town, gradually uncovering a sinister plot that threatens what's left of mankind.

Much of the game is played like most other RPGs of its time: the player navigates the party through the top-down world, fights enemies (which appear randomly in hostile areas) in turn-based style on combat screens represented by enemy pictures, acquires information, equipment, and items from NPCs in towns, etc. The player can create a whole party of adventurers and/or recruit some of the characters that populate the game's world.

However, Wasteland also introduced an original skill system that has had a significant influence on the genre. The game makes use of the skill system in conjunction with traditional character attributes to achieve goals and get past obstacles. Beside helping the characters to fight more efficiently, main attributes sometimes have an impact on activities used outside of combat. For example, high strength can be applied to break a heavy object, charisma rating might influence the way NPCs interact with the main character, etc.

The skills work in a similar way: some of them improve the characters' proficiencies with different types of attacks and weapons, while others are needed to solve and/or by pass certain situations during interaction with the game's characters and objects. These skills are rather diverse, ranging from physical abilities such as swimming to more complex actions (medic, lock-picking), or even psychological states (confidence). Skill learning and progression depend on the main character's IQ rating.

Trivia

There are references to the game designers and their previous games in Wasteland. The two most common are the obvious spell references to Bard's Tale in the occult shop in Needles, and the character Faran Brygo in Vegas (obviously taken from Brian Fargo). Another obvious one is an arm patch worn by a 'Pistolero' -- it's the old Interplay logo. Finally, the room in Vegas with the Proton Ax has the initials "A.P." (for the developer Alan Pavlish) as a wall design.

Wasteland was in many Top 100 Games lists for many years; some years, it never dropped below the top ten. It is widely and universally regarded as one of the very best role-playing games ever created.

The credits listed in this entry are a hybrid; the IBM credits have been added and overlaid on the Apple credits to make a complete MobyGames IBM PC entry.

The original packaging contained a photo of the seven main developers dressed in "Wasteland" gear. This photo, in silohette, is on the cover of the manual and Survival Guide. (see Box Covers).

Wasteland was re-released for the PC four times in last decade:
As part of the Interplay 10th Year Anniversary collection in 1993;

As part of the Ultimate RPG Archives (can still be ordered from Interplay as of 1999);

On Computer Gaming World CDROMs, once in 1996 and the other in 1997.

---

Description from the packaging:

Civilization's Last Stand
Mutants. Again. Even more than there were last time: they seem to materialize out of the very grains of the radioactive desert sand. Venomous yellow eyes. The black gunmetal glint of Uzis as they close in for the kill. There's nowhere to run, and nothing to rely on but your MAC 17 machine gun. What a way to save the human race.
More real than your worst nightmare.
Roam the deserts of the American Southwest. Neon lights alone never made Las Vegas glow like this.

All your actions are permanent. If you blow up the library, don't expect to check out books later.
Now swords. No spells. Pistols, rockets, submachine guns, laser weapons, and cunning are all the magic you need.

Strategy is Everything.
A whole new dimension in tactical combat.
Plan your attack. Split up your party any time and put your specialists to work.
Burn the whole clip. Fire a short burst. Or do the job with just one shot. How lucky do you feel?

Explosive Storyline.
Your characters gain real knowledge. Pick locks. Fire rockets. Disarm bombs. Decode messages. Learn survival skills that weren't in the Boy Scout manual.
A cast of hundreds. Everyone wants to meet you: most of them in the worst possible way.
Plenty of subplots. intricate puzzles, and graphic surprises await in the vast nightmare of a post-nuclear world.

Lots of Extras.
Top-down views, like Deathlord. Close-up characters, like The Bard's Tale.
Extra booklet details encounters with strange desert inhabitants.
From the creators of The Bard's Tale series.
An oasis? A mirage? Or a whole new world of trouble?

In the old days, you wouldn't have been caught dead in a sewer. Today, you just might be.
Why wait until you smell its breath? With your LAW rocket, you can mow down leather thugs at 50 feet.
Rank has its privileges.



http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/wasteland
